Entertainment

Google Releases Chrome 9 Stable

Google has updated the stable branch of its Chrome browser to version 9. The latest stable release brings in many features Chrome beta users have been enjoying for several months, including Chrome Instant, WebGL support and access to the Chrome Web Store.

Chrome Instant is basically Google Instant but in the chrome URL/search box. For end users, the two most compelling features are WebGL support and the Chrome Web Store.

Chrome 9.0 brings stable support for WebGL. WebGL lets web developers create hardware-accelerated 3D graphics inside the web browser. We discussed WebGL and the Google Body experiment back in December. If you haven't seen WebGL in action, be sure to check out the WebGL Experiments page (FYI my favorite is Aquarium).

The Chrome Web Store is now accessible to all users in the United States. Users can "install" free and paid web apps that are accessible in Google Chrome and in Chrome OS.

Some of these apps are just fancy bookmarks to HTML5-infused web pages, but some others really push the boundaries of what constitutes a web app. We reviewed ten of our favorite Chrome web apps when the store soft-launched a few months ago.

Current Google Chrome users can expect automatic updates to get Google Chrome 9 or you can download the latest version at http://www.google.com/chrome/.

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